Miscommunication

812 Words2 Pages

“Miscommunication”

Problems in every society usually derive from one specific thing. Miscommunication. How many times have you gotten in an argument or a disagreement with someone over what someone said, and then you later found out that that person meant something completely different from what was running through your head? How many times have you gotten off the phone with someone—someone important, --and wondered, what in the world were he or she talking about? I often get this feeling after class.

Now, have you ever looked—I mean really looked at the English language? It is a very confusing language and it’s no wonder so many other people have so much trouble understanding it. Have you ever talked to someone from a foreign country and you’ve had to rephrase the entire thing you were trying to say because they didn’t understand? That’s exactly what I’m talking about.

Let’s start with something simple. Oxymorons. Let’s say you’re getting ready for a job interview and as you’re leaving the house, someone yells out behind you, “Just Act Natural, you’ll be fine.” You get in the car and the only thing you get on your mind is “acing natural.” A person can’t act and be natural at the same time and the entire time you’re driving to the job interview, you’re thinking, what can I do to act more natural. That, my friend, is an oxymoron and can easily be mis-interrupted. You’ve heard of them before. They can easily be defined as a couple of words contradicting one another but used as a fixed expression. A couple of examples, found missing, same difference, good grief, and airline food.

Expressions such as these can cause miscommunications, misunderstandings, and basically just a lot of confusion.

Have you ever been watching the news or Sportscenter® and they show a clip with the small title of “taped live” down in the corner? How can something already have been taped and yet they’re showing it over live television?

Our government seems to enjoy these phrases quite a bit. In our government, they have many divisions called government organizations. Tell me if I’m wrong but I believe the government is an organization itself. How can they call them government organizations if the government IS an organization? That’s like saying organization organization.

We also have a division we call the Peace Force. How can a person force peace without destroying the entire definition of the word?

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